There is a large misconception out there that wedding vendors
in general, and photographers in particular are out there charging exorbitant
prices and raking in money off of weddings by playing to the emotionalism of
the couples involved. Understandably, people who have never hired a professional
photographer to work on location are shell shocked by their first exposure to
the prices.Keep in mind that the photographer has put in not only the 6-8 hours
of photography time on your wedding, but between meetings, prep time, labeling
film and negatives, arranging and packaging your albums, and delivery, they
have probably worked 30 or more hours. In addition, the photographer has to
make enough over and above the cost of each wedding to pay for equipment or
equipment maintenance, advertising, studio costs (if they have one), and telephone,
etc. Now you have to consider what kind of profit you think a photographer should
earn. A final item to keep in mind is that, unlike a florist or a baker, a photographer
is limited in the number of weddings he or she can do. While the florist can
do 10 weddings a week, the photographer can do only one. What is this expertise
and time worth to you? Hopefully enough to at least allow your photographer
to pay his or her bills!